Reckoning-machine



S D. FARMER.

RECKONING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR 7. I917.

Patented Jan. 18, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

S. D, FARMER.

RECKONING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED mm. 7, 1917.

Patented Jan. 18, 1921 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

SILAS DEWITT FARMER, 03S GALENA, KANSAS.

REGKONING-MAGHINE.

vApplication filed March 7, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SILAs Dnwrr'r FARMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galena, in'the county of Cherokee, State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Reckoning-Machine; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention is a reckoning machine designed particularly for the service of lumber dealers or like merchants, although it may be put to other uses for which its peculiar construction and principles are adaptable.

Its principal object is to provide a simple and reliable calculating or reckoning device capable of being operated with facility.

A second object is to provide such a machine which can be manufactured at low cost ,andwhich has no intricate mechanism that may be easily deranged.

' A particular design has been employed for illustrating this invention. It is not however restricted to this design. The right is reserved to make any changes or alterations found advisable by practical application, provided such changes and alterations are comprehended in spirit by the subjoined claim.

The uniform system is employed for designating the same parts throughout the several figures of the drawing,wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective new of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a plan of the chart to be used in conjunction with the device.

The invention comprises the casing for the bottom 1, back 2, the sides 3 and 4, the front 5 and the top 6. The sides, front and back are attached to each other and to the bottom by any of the methods prevalent for such construction. The top 6 is by the same method attached to the sides and to the back. The sides 3 and 1 have their front upper corners angled off and across the diagonal edges thus formed a transparent or glass member 7 rests, which member 7 is retained in position by rabbeted edges of the top 6 and the front 5 where they adjoin the glass member 7 Provision is made at the bottom Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 18, 1921.

Serial No. 153,020.

of the casing for the drawer 8 that is intended as a depository for any of the detachable parts of the device or for any other device.

On the interior of the casing the drums 9,

I10 and 11 are mounted for rotative movement with their stub shafts 12, 13 and 14. All three of these shafts have appropriate bearings formed for them in the sides 3 and 4 of the casing. The drums 10 and 9 are of comparatively small diameter and are provided near their ends with the flange disks 15 and 16. Sheaves 17, frictionally attached to both drums 9 and 10 adjacent to flange disks 16, have an elastic round belt 18 traveling over them which belt is crossed to give the drums opposite directions of rotation. The stub shafts 12 and 13 protrude far enough through the side 4 to permit the crank handles 19 to be attached to them. Hand screws 20 are threaded through the side 3 at such a distance directly above the shafts 12 and 13 that their felt tips or ends 21 can be made to bear against the faces of the disks 15 near their periphery, for creating an appropriate frictional contact with the faces of the disks 15, which felt tips or ends are fixed in counterbored portions of said screws 20.

The disks 15 are somewhat larger diameterthan the disks 16 and have V-shaped teeth 22 formed on their circumferences. Recesses 23 are formed in the side 3 directly below the shafts 12 and 13 and bell-crank pawls 24 are pivoted in the walls of these recesses, the outside ends of the pawls having the adjusting screws 25 threaded through them and the inside ends being adapted to engage between the teeth 22 of the disks 15. The springs 26, connected between a point on the inside of the side 3 and the pawls, serve to keep the latter normally in engagement with the teeth 22, the adjusting screw 25 permitting.

The idler drum 11 is of larger diameter than the drums 9 and 10 and is provided with pintles 14, which pintles are mounted in suitable bearings formed in the sides 3 and d.

A chart 26 runs around the drums 9 and 10 and passes over the drum 11 in so doing. The chart is divided into small squares by vertical and horizontal lines, the vertical lines being adapted to register with the calibrations 27 formed on the beveled edge of the front 5. For the particular use for which this device is designed calibrations 27 are designated as 1-2, etc, meaning the number of units, such as the number of boards. On the chart horizontal divisions carry all the data appertaining to measurement, price or whatever other information it is desired to have tabulated; while the divisions formed by the vertical lines. carry that information pertaining to quantity. Aside from the divisions just mentioned the chart is further divided into sections, each section having an appropriate heading, such as 1 X 4 X 10, meaning that this particular section contains the tabulated information concerning a board 1 inch thick, 4 inches wide and 10 feet long.

The device is operated by turning either one of the crank handles 19, the lower handle however, being preferable if the chart is being moved downward and the upper handle if it is being moved upward. Although the belted connections between the drums 9 and 10 will cause both to respond to the turning of either crank, the two handles are preferable in that they will permit the instant taking up of any slack that may occur in the chart as a result of the slipping of the belt. .The friction screws 20 are, of

course, designed to prevent the drums 9 and 10 from moving too freely and causing a slack in the chart, but if these should ever fail by careless setting, recourse can be had to the handles to remedy a condition which the friction screws fail to prevent. The pawls 24 are designed to lock the drums 9 and 1.0 in position when it is desired to use any particular chart reading for any particular length of time, adjusting screws 25 providing means for keeping the pawls inactive when rotating the drums to obtain different readings on the chart.

In using the device, either of the drums 9 or 10 is rotated by its attendant crankhandle 19, until the particular section of the chart which it is desired to use is brought before the glass 7 and the rotation of the drums is continued until the particular horizontal line desired is brought flush with the beveled edge of the front 5. The vertical lines of the chart, being in registration with the calibrations 27, enable the information concerning the quantity of boards to be read directly from the chart, the number of boards having the particular information concerning that number (on the beveled edge of 5) listed directly above the chart.

hat is claimed is:

The combination with rollers of a calculating machine rotatably mounted in a casing and having the ends of a chart wound thereon, of detent means for preventing overthrow of the rollers, said detent means comprising pivoted levers substantially right angled shaped, one arm of'each of said levers engaging the periphery of each roller adjacent its end, a coiled spring for holding each of said engaging arms in engagement with the roller and adjusting screws threaded in-the other arms of the levers and having their ends in engagement with the casing and forming means for varying the frictional engagement of the engaging arms with the rollers and also forming means whereby the engaging arms may be held out of engagement with the rollers.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SILAS DEWITT FARMER.

Witnesses L. H. PUoKE'r'r, G. E. Hess. 

